Travel Posts

December 10, 2010

I went to the Central Market area. Picked up a cab to get back and told the cabbie to take me to Buenos Aires (that's the street near where I'm staying). He asks me where and so I told him "Buenos Aires" with every bit of spanish accent i can muster. He asks me where again and I told him again. We did this one more time.

There's a lady in the back seat and she pipes up and says, "Buenos Aires". And the cab driver says, "oh, Buenos Aires". I said, "yes, Buenos Aires, like I said all the other times". I said the last in English cause I knew he'd understand nothing of what I said.

And then there's this story from yesterday...After washing and drying a Benjamin, I took it to the bank to exchange. Didn't think the teller was going to exchange it. He'd look at it a while, then look at me. Then he'd look at the bill again and turn it over and look at me. They he'd do a little keyboard work and look at the bill. I guess he couldn't figure out any reason to refuse it, so finally, i got Lempiras

It rained this morning. Then the sun shone for about two hours. Then it all cloudy and then came a toadstrangler.

December 7, 2010

Conventional Wisdom and all the travel books tell you to confirm the price of a taxi before you get inside. Well, they are way wrong for La Ceiba. Pay 20L (about $1) during the day and 30L after dark for ANY taxi ride anywhere in town. Otherwise you are going to pay extra for asking the question. I know. Cost me 30L (about $1.50) to find that out.

The roosters here are nuts. Usually about 11pm they start crowing. They stop for a while and then start again at about 2am. Crazy-ass roosters.

A cold front has pushed into the Gulf of Mexico creating abnormal amounts of rainfall way the heck down here. And cold! Gonna be down to 64 tonight and no heat in the house. Think I'll leave the overhead light on and hope it warms my room.

December 6, 2010

This morning was nice and hot. Steamy. Felt fantastic. I got up early (well, it was just after 11am) and went to the central market area. I love central markets in latin america. They are so therapeutic. Maybe not so much physically, though the walk was good, but instead from a mental point. It just clears your mind. People didn't really bother me. If I wanted to buy something, I did. If I didn't I just ignored whoever was hollering (at me or others). It's really easy to do when they are hollering at a fast pace in a language that requires them to go slow for me to understand.

So, after about two hours of meandering down the sidewalks and through the stores, I took my purchases and came home. And got home none too soon. The sky opened up and dumped water, in the form of rain, for the next five hours. Lordy, I had to put jeans on to stay warm. Brrr!

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2009
Nicaragua factoids: Bordered on the north by Honduras and on the south by Costa Rica. The largest country in Central America is approximately the size of New York State with the smallest population per square mile of any Central American country. Because of the historical difficult relationship with the USA, one doesn't hear much about Nicaragua as being a tourist destination. It was the last Central American country left for me to visit.

You may recall my friends, Kitty and Al, who retired to Mexico several years ago. Well, Al met me in Nicaragua for part of the (mis)-adventures.

Managua

Managua is amazingly not worth spending much time. Plan tightly, hit the few sites quickly and move on to someplace more interesting. Unfortunately, Al and I didn't plan well and wound up spending two nights at the front end of the trip. We stayed at a hotel (Los Felipe) that sounded pretty good on the web, pool and all, for the low, low price of $15/night and $25/night with a/c. I chose the cheap one. There is a nice pool, but one might hurt oneself diving into a pool with no water. And apparently no plan to fill it up.

What was once the heart of the city is now a zone of empty buildings damaged in an earthquake in 1972. There is a magnificent old catholic church. While I was there, there was a small amount of work being done on restoration.

Around from this is access to Lake Managua. A good view of the lake is provided here. I saw no need to board the boat to trip out across the lake since it is terribly polluted. There is a nice family area set up with picnic tables. And it is calming with the lapping of the waves on the shore.

Loma de Tiscapa: Climbing or driving (much of the way) up gives one an excellent view of Managua and Tiscapa crater lake. At several locations around the park, there are cannon and tanks concreted as a symbol of the desire for an end to civil war. Most interesting is the hindquarters of the statue of the horse on which Somoza sat. The statue of Somoza and his stead were knocked down when he was overthrown as dictator in 1979. Only the hindquarters remain.

There is also a 'famous' museum called Huellas de Acahualinca. These are ancient footprints that have been dated to approximately7,000 years ago. They show several sets of human prints (male/female adults and children). A small attempt could be made to make this more interesting, but I really felt like I'd been duped. But I've seen them and got the pictures to prove it.

The central market is interesting in the way of most latin american cities' markets. It is certainly worth a browse through, you can buy cigars (Nica cigars are excellent), liquor (Nica Rum is muy bueno), leather and woodwork and paintings by Nica artists. Call it done and get out of town!

These sites can be visited in two or three hours.

Corn Island (Isla de Maize)

The airport in Managua is incredibly small. The International terminal is about the length of a football field...maybe. The Domestic terminal is even smaller – maybe thirty meters on a side. La Costena airlines flies out of this terminal. Since Nicaragua isn't a truly large country, domestic flights are done with planes that carry from twelve to about fifty people. Our trip was on the smaller plane.

La Costena had taken more reservations than would fit on one plane, so after the gate attendant (?) counted out the first twelve, the rest of us were told to wait. Well, they got us on a second aircraft...all three of us. Though I didn't confirm this, it appears that's how they fly. I think the big airlines could learn something from them.

I've never before experienced such a smooth take-off. It was like lifting on wings. Because of the size and shape, the view was amazing – there were large windows all around and we could see what the pilot could see in front. We didn't fly high and that helped with the view as well. Flying over Lake Managua and then over the volcanoes and then over the countryside. We followed the first airplane to Bluefields (which now has a casino) on the Caribbean coast. There, our plane filled up with a few more people. And we take off again. Again following.

Corn Island is just a jump across the Bahia de Bluefields (Bay of Bluefields) and out a bit into the Caribbean (approximately 100km [65 miles]). From the airplane, the Bay is muddy perhaps from the runoff from rivers. Once past the barrier island, the water clears into the beautiful clear waters of El Caribe.

And that is exactly the way to be introduced to the Nicaraguan Caribbean. Stunningly beautiful (but then I've always been partial to El Caribe) at a low altitude.

Corn Island is actually two islands...Big Corn Island and Little Corn Island. Well Big Corn ain't real big – something like 5.6 km2 and Little Corn is small enough to walk around in about an hour. The beaches are small. The longest is named Long Bay (?) I think at about 80 meters. Very small but otherwise, a typical Caribbean island. But it doesn't matter...it's the Caribbean.